Thursday, March 23, 2017

Montgomery, Alabama: Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement

Thursday March 23 Montgomery, Alabama

The first place we visited today was the Rosa Parks Museum.
The Rosa Parks Museum was very interesting because it highlighted and explained
the entire Montgomery Bus Boycott not just the Rosa Parks movement that started
it. At the museum, I learned about how African Americans organized the
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and used volunteers to drive African
Americans who refused to ride the busses in Montgomery. After leaving the Rosa
Parks Museum we had a tour of the Alabama state Capitol. The Capitol building
was extremely beautiful, but I did not enjoy our tour. I don't think that our
tour guide understood the history of the capitol of Alabama and I believe that
she purposely tried to sugar coat or gloss over the state's terrible history
with racism and slavery. We also visited 309 S. Jackson St the home where MLK
lived while living in Montgomery. His home is now known as the Dexter Parsonage
Museum. Here we had a fantastic tour (The best yet) by a brilliant older woman
named Dr. Cherry. She breathed life into her tour of Dr. King's house and it
will undoubtedly become one of my most memorable and cherished moments of the
trip. We ended our day by visiting the Southern Poverty Law and the Equal
Justice Initiative. At the Equal Justice Initiative, we heard from Anthony Ray
Hinton an Alabama man who was falsely convicted of killing two fast food
managers and sentenced to death. Hinton spent 30 years in prison on death row
before finally being cleared of all charges. During his 30 years in prison
Hinton lost his mother and fell behind society technologically. Hinton spoke
about the tremendous role that race and economic status played in his
conviction, and how the state of Alabama routinely discriminates against people
of color in criminal proceedings. This discussion brought me to tears and was
one of the saddest discussions I've ever sat in. Although it was very sad to
hear about such systemic racism and injustice, listening to Hinton's story
strengthened my resolve to become an attorney and stand up for individuals who
are not always able to stand up for themselves. Today was a long and rough day
emotionally and mentally but I am learning a great deal about race relations in
the United States and I am grateful for this opportunity.